How To Win A Fight
by Erincoffeeaddict
Summary: Uncle Joe and Charley oblige to help Betty Jo with her karate practice but Charley ends up in an unfortunate predicament.


Betty Jo grunted to herself as she punched and kicked at the air, trying to become familiar with the martial arts. Being a tomboy, she was already very athlete and had recently taken up karate. The furniture was moved aside so she could have space to practice in the lobby. Her hair was braided in pigtails and she was wearing jeans and an old shirt. Her feet were bare.

"Keep it down in there!" Uncle Joe shouted from the porch.

"But I'm trying to practice my moves!" she called.

Uncle Joe grumbled as he got out his rocker and waddled into the hotel to see what his youngest niece was up to. He stepped into the lobby and scratched at his head curiously when he found Betty Jo seemingly trying to fight off an invisible attacker.

"Uh…should I ask?"

Betty Jo continued her assault on the air for a few seconds longer before she stopped and looked at Uncle Joe. "Heh, I think I just taught that mugger a lesson he'll never forget!" she exclaimed, catching her breath.

Uncle Joe still looked puzzled.

Betty Jo chuckled. "I'm just practicing my new karate skills, Uncle Joe. Just in case somebody should try to rob me."

"Hm, and to think I wasted my life merely locking doors," he grunted.

"Hey, do you want to help me practice?" she asked, eagerly.

"How?"

"You can be the mugger. All you have to do is come at me like you want to hurt me," she explained, bracing herself for the attack. "But there are no shoes allowed so take them off."

Uncle Joe kicked off his shoes and then stood opposite her. He copied her pose, showed his teeth, and made a mean growling noise to intimate her.

"Good," Betty Jo said, keeping eye contact. "Now, come at me and try to grab my throat."

Without questioning her instructions, Uncle Joe stretched his arms and advanced towards her. He made a careful move for her throat and had just barely touched it when Betty Jo grabbed his thumbs and peeled them back, making him unable to squeeze her windpipe.

"Okay, now here's the part where I kick you in the groin but I don't want to really hurt you so we'll just pretend," she explained.

And with that, she gave him a slight nudge with her knee, cueing him to double over in pain. While he was slouching, she took both fists and knocked him to the ground – all in slow motion.

"Now what?" he asked.

"I run away I guess."

"But what if the guy gets up and runs after you?"

"Uh, I'm still rusty on that part," she admitted, fumbling with one of her braids.

"Lucky you've got me here to show you," he said as Betty helped him to his feet. "Ya see, here's what you have to do…you have to somehow get the fella down on the ground and don't let him up until he begs for mercy. In other words, after you knock him down you have to pin him."

Before Betty could reply, the dog came scampering into the room and was barking up a storm. That was a signal which meant the train was coming in. The dog knew exactly what time the old train was due and would bark loudly to announce it's arrival, followed by the whistle of the train. The dog never missed a day.

"Darn that mutt," grumbled Uncle Joe. "Just once in my life, _I'd_ like to be the one to announce the Cannonball!"

Betty Jo smirked and went to cradle her small dog, which to this day, was unnamed.

"Floyd and Charley will be coming in here pretty soon for lunch. Hey, maybe one of them will help us practice!" said Betty.

Uncle Joe sniffed. "Those freeloaders? What would they know about the martial arts?"

"Maybe one of them could play the part of the bad guy," she ventured. "And you could show me how to pin them."

Uncle Joe thought about this for a moment, then he chuckled a bit. "Ya know, I think I might enjoy that."

Betty Jo put down the dog and opened the front door, preparing to grab the first person who comes in.

And it happened to be Charley.

"Hey, what's this all about?" asked the confused engineer as he was dragged into the middle of the room by Betty.

"You're going to be a bad guy and Uncle Joe is going to pin you to the floor. He's going to show me how it's done. Will you help us, huh Charley?"

Charley chuckled and shrugged. "Oh, what the heck, I'm a sport. But I'm not going to just lay down for him. If Joe wants me on the floor he'll have to fight for it!"

"Goody, I love a challenge," Uncle Joe said, his voice oozing with sarcasm.

Charley sneered right back at him and moved closer to him, but Betty Jo quickly stepped in between the pair.

"Charley, you have to take your shoes off first," she informed him.

"What for?"

"I don't know. So you don't hurt each other I guess. Besides, it's traditional."

"Well, alright," Charley obliged as he sat down and removed his shoes. He placed his shoes neatly in the corner and then walked back to the center of the room in his socked feet.

There was a physical fight between Charley and Uncle Joe, which was really more of a wrestling match than karate. And though Charley put up a good fight, he got tripped and ended up laying flat on his stomach - with Uncle Joe sitting on his rear and securely holding his ankles in place.

"Well, Charley. Old fella…looks like I won this match! Did you see that, Betty Jo? I've got him trapped and now there's nothing he can do but yield!" boasted Uncle Jo with smug grin.

"Okay, okay," Charley caved, realizing that couldn't move anything except his arms. "You got lucky this time."

"I don't need luck to take you down! Why, any day of the week I could take you…in all your paunch-bellied, double-chin glory!"

"Ah, shut up."

Betty Jo strolled over to them and studied their situation. She walked up to Charley's feet and smiled at his socked soles.

Then Charley began to panic as he felt his socks being removed. "B-Betty Jo? What are you doing?" he asked, meekly.

The young woman didn't reply. She pulled off both of his socks and began tickling his bare feet.

Charley burst out laughing and started to squirm frantically.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HEY, THAT'S NOT FAIR! HOOOHOHOHOOHOHOHOHOHOHO! PLEASE DON'T AHAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA DON'T TICKLE MY FEET!"

After only a few moments, Betty Jo did stop and then she started walking away. Charley laid his head down as he gasped for air, relieved because he thought she was finished.

But then Betty returned…with a huge turkey feather!

She began gliding the feather all over the soles of his feet, causing Charley to shriek and explode with laughter.

"Ooh, you're so ticklish! Yes, you are! Coochie coochie coochie!" she teased him in a babying tone.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOOOOOOO! NOT THE FEET! NOT THE FEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEET! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I CAN'T STAND IT!" Charley howled as he writhed violently under Uncle Joe, who was keeping a powerful grip on the poor engineer's ankles.

Betty Jo kept on tickling. She let the feather probe and dab at his toes, then she feathered the heels and balls of his feet. She paid special attention to his insteps, which were his most ticklish spot of all.

Charley's face turned bright red as tears streamed down his cheeks. He bashed his fists against the floor and clawed at the carpet. He was laughing so hard he thought he would die.

"Keep tickling him, Betty Jo," said Uncle Joe with an evil smirk. It was hard work holding onto Charley's squirming legs but he wanted the engineer's suffering to continue, so he locked his arms tightly around the ankles and held them with all his might.

"NOOOOOO HAHAHAHAHAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! PLEASE! PLEEEHEHEHEHEHEASE! WOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOOHOHOHOHOHO! CUT IT OUT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! MY BARE FEET CAN'T TAKE IT! HAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Betty was using the feather to stroke Charley's tender arches, which drove him into screaming laughter. His pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears.

But after about ten minutes, Betty Jo and Uncle Joe decided it was time to give him a breather. They let him sit up so he could relax and regain his composure. His hair was a tousled mess and his fat face was covered in tears and sweat. He was frantically gasping for air. It took a long time for him to recover.

"Are you going to be okay?" Uncle Jo asked in mock sympathy.

"Don't tease him anymore, Uncle Joe," said Betty as she sat down next to Charley and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Don't be mad at us, Charley. We were just having some fun," she explained.

Charley looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "So you think tickling is fun, do you?"

"Sure, it's wonderful," said Betty Jo, smiling.

Suddenly, Charley reached out and grabbed her naked foot. He then began to scratch along her sole, causing her to squeal with giggles.

"Eeek! Hahahahahaha! Charlehehehehey!" Betty yelled through her high-pitched giggles. She fell back and kicked at him with her free foot.

Charley smirked playfully and tickled faster, glad to be the one doing the tickling for a change.

"Aahahahahaha! I'm sorry, Charley! Heeheeheeheehee! I'm sorry!" she screeched.

"How sorry?"

"V-Very sorry! Hahahahaha! VERY!"

"Okay then," Charley stopped his assault and released her foot.

Betty sat up straight and caught her breath. She actually didn't mind being tickled and kind of enjoyed the experience.

"You know something, Charley?"

"What, honey?"

"You're more merciful than I am," she said, lowering her eyes a bit.

Charley smiled and tugged gently at one of her pigtails. "Well, you and Floyd are the two best friends I've got. You know that, right?"

Betty Jo glanced at him and cracked a smile. "Yup!"

And with that, she gave him a hug.

The End


End file.
